Not that I have been known to admire the critical pieces of work in Hollywood/Bollywood (I would have aliens and zombies any day); I did love the cinematic motif called the ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. Much has been already written about the movie and most of it would definitely have been more effusive, more spirited, more detailed than what I am about to write. But one more good review won’t do it no bad, and I promise to be – to the point if not short, so that you would by now have determinedly made your mind to watch it.
Well, what can I say, it is based on a novella written by Stephen King, a prolific writer suffering from highly activated carbon of imagination and a severe bout of literary diarrhea. He writes definitely long prose, that to good, but of course I have known him long enough just to give the chills. But it has indeed given me pleasant surprise to find out that he has taken out his time to write novellas/novels like ‘Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Green Mile’. The latter, to tell you the truth, I haven’t yet completed reading, it has been in limbo for some two-three years, but though I don’t care much about them, has received pleasant reviews indeed.
Now to the movie – except for Morgan Freeman, the star cast was pretty much unknown to me. But of course, great acting surpasses popularity. Each and every character of this movie had acted natural, without affectations, delivering masterful strokes, making this movie seamless and without even a protruded bump in its fluidic path. Of course, it has a great story to back on.
Andy Dufresne is wrongly accused (as later in the movie, it is incontrovertibly proved) of a crime of passion and is convicted to a life sentence for the murder of two in a prison called Shawshank. Amidst the usual bets, about which of the new inmates would break down on the very first day (the old-timers call them their race horses), Andy comes in last. A cold-blooded fish, he is assumed to be, by his inmates “Red” (who considers himself to be Irish!), Bob and the rest of the “Red” Riding Hoods, but soon enough, Andy earns their respect by going an extra mile (and also to protect himself from some hostile elements) and bravely puts up with the seriously dangerous warden (Bob Gunton) and his gun toting whelp of a chief guard (Clancy Brown). He soon enough finds himself much in demand!
But seriously, life in prison is hell. Be it the description of Arthur Road Jail (Shantaram!) or Shawshank in this movie, they all give me jeepers. After vicariously experiencing life in jail, I am always like, ‘God, let me not commit any crime so notorious that it lands me at this concrete hell’.
Frank Darabont and Stephen King have covered it all – be it the doublespeak that the warden indulges into, the plight of institutionalized prisoners and the sheer rottenness of the place. Amidst all that gloominess, like a tiny flicker, a scintilla of hope somehow survives in the form of Andy.
Truly this movie is one of the best critically acclaimed (Imdb!) movie I have seen so far……
And to think that Rita Hayworth, the American beauty to be at the center of it all!!
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